


Miscommunications 101

by PennedByLynn



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, College Student Lydia Martin, College Student Stiles Stilinski, F/M, Flirting, Miscommunication, Oblivious Lydia Martin, Oblivious Stiles Stilinski, Prompt Fill, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27440995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennedByLynn/pseuds/PennedByLynn
Summary: College freshmen Lydia Martin and Stiles Stilinski meet in a Psychology class. What happens when a little miscommunication derails Stiles' attempt to ask Lydia out?In which Lydia & Stiles are oblivious to the other's feelings, Lydia hosts a girls night, and Stiles finally convinces Scott to watch Star Wars.
Relationships: Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt request from Anna

Lydia sat down at her usual table near the front of the Psych 101 classroom. She pulled her rose gold binder out of her Michael Kors bookbag and flipped to the next blank page.

She enjoyed these few minutes before class started. The air was buzzing with her classmates making plans for the weekend. She smiled as she dated the notebook paper and placed the cap back on her pen.

It was hard to believe that her first semester in college was nearly over. She was loving the challenge of university classes, even if they were just Gen Eds. It was thrilling to have so many options available. Her course load covered everything from film history to statistics.

The social scene had been equally exciting. Though she’d never had difficulty making friends, it seemed much easier to do so at college. Everyone seemed to be reinventing themselves left and right without the trappings of high school cliques to weigh them down.

Professor Lawrence turned and addressed the class, “Let’s go ahead and get started. I believe we left off on the Bystander Effect. Please open your textbooks to Chapter 8 and we’ll continue our discussion.”

Just as she finished speaking, Stiles stumbled through the door.

“Mr. Stilinski, how kind of you to join us.”

He hurried to the empty chair beside Lydia. He winked and pointed finger guns towards the front of the classroom.

Lydia shook her head and tried to hide her smile.

“What?” whispered Stiles. “I made it on time today. It’s still 9:00!”

Keeping her eyes trained on their professor, Lydia replied, “Some people might say you’re late if you don’t arrive _before_ class starts.”

“No, see, now that’s just confusing. Class starts at 9. If I showed up at 9:01, then I’d be late.”

Lydia just shook her head and continued writing down notes. The boy could talk his way out of just about anything.

Every Tuesday and Thursday it was the same routine. Stiles had yet to truly arrive on time for this class, even though they were well into October. He usually laid the blame on his malfunctioning alarm.

The boy had absolutely bewildered her during their first few weeks of class. She’d never before seen nervous energy personified. Anything within reach of his flailing limbs was at risk of being knocked over or completely off the table. He was constantly fidgeting and bouncing his shoe on the linoleum.

But all that chaotic energy also gave off an inexplicably warm light. Lydia couldn’t understand why she felt so drawn to him. It was the reason why she hadn’t chosen a new seat, even after several latte disasters.

Their 2 hour class passed as it usually did: Lydia took careful notes and Stiles scrawled key phrases with the occasional commentary. His notes drove her mad but clearly they worked. She always stole a glance at his papers when they got passed back. He had yet to receive a grade lower than an A.

As they gathered their things to leave, Stiles rattled on about a Star Wars marathon that he was planning with his roommate.

“... just an absolute travesty that he’s never seen them before. But anyways my point is that come Saturday night I’m probably going to be in desperate need of human contact. Do you, uh, would you want to hang out? It’s just that we never really get to see each other outside of class and I thought it might be cool to speak above a whisper for a change. What do you think?” asked Stiles as they walked outside, barely missing the giant pillar on the outside of the building.

Lydia raised her eyebrows in amusement. Even for Stiles, he was rambling quite a bit.

“As much as I’d love to help draw you back to reality, I’ve got a hot date on Saturday night,” she joked, nodding to Allison who was heading up the steps with the cute barista from their favorite café.

Stiles whipped around and his shoulders fell.

“Right, of course,” he muttered. “You two have fun. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

Lydia raised a quizzical eyebrow as he hurried down the steps. Allison caught her gaze and wandered over, parting ways with the barista..

“Who was that?” asked Allison.

“That was Stiles, the guy from my Psych 101 class I was telling you about,” she answered.

“Ah, thank you for the clarification. It’s not like I know another Stiles or as if you’ve talked about literally any other boy since I met you,” teased Allison.

Lydia dropped her jaw in mock offense. “Not fair! What about Aiden?”

Allison scoffed, “Please. A drunken hook-up with a frat boy during your first weekend at college hardly counts. Besides I’m pretty sure that’s the first time you’ve even mentioned him in two months.”

Lydia pressed her lips into a thin line. She hadn’t been talking about Stiles _that_ much, had she?

“Well we can’t all be mysterious and refuse to tell our roommates the name of the boy we’re talking to,” said Lydia, raising her eyebrows.

“It’s so new! I just don’t want to jinx it. Let me actually go on out on a couple of dates with him first and then I’ll introduce you.”

“Fine. But remember, Saturday is a girl’s night. I’m talking chick flicks, Ben & Jerry’s, mani-pedis: the works. And **no** spending the evening making googly eyes at your phone. Tell mystery boy you’re mine for the night,” Lydia said as she turned on her heel, allowing her hair to flip dramatically over her shoulder.

____________________________________________________________________________

Lydia stepped back to survey her work. It was a spread that would’ve made Elle Woods proud.

Their Ikea coffee table was covered with snacks of every variety: salty, gummy, chocolate, savory. Her collection of nail polish was proudly displayed in a basket by the tv, along with some sheet masks she’d picked up from Sephora. She’d even found pink Solo cups. Even when it was just a casual affair, nobody threw a party like Lydia Martin.

All that was left to do was wait. Allison would be here any minute with the pizzas and their suitemates should be picking up ice cream from the student store.

Lydia smiled as she sat on the sofa, scrolling through her Netflix list. She’d already saved some of her favorite rom-coms but she didn’t want to completely dictate the evening. She’d let the girls pick when they arrived.

As if on cue, a knock sounded on their door.

“It’s me,” called Allison. “My keys are in my pocket and there’s no way I’m setting these pizzas down on the hallway floor to grab them.”

Lydia rushed to help her roommate. Kira and Malia quickly appeared outside the door as well.

“We come bearing ice cream! And rosé,” said Kira, holding up the shopping bags. “Well, Malia actually comes bearing whiskey.”

“Hey! I’m here, aren’t I? We didn’t do girls nights in my hometown. You went to the party thrown by the quarterback after every game or you ended up drinking in the bed of someone’s pick up truck behind the walmart,” Malia remarked as she walked through the doorway. “I brought fuzzy slippers though?”

“It’s progress,” offered Lydia.

“So tell me more about what I should be expecting here. Talking about boys is pretty standard, yeah?” asked Malia.

Allison grinned and said, “Yes, apparently we can talk _about_ them, we just can’t talk _to_ them.”

“Ooooooh well then Kira is already in trouble,” teased Malia.

Kira flushed pink as she set the grocery bags on the side table. “Girls night started three minutes ago when we walked through that door. I think I’m in the clear.”

“Hmmm so I guess ten minutes ago when you were making googly eyes at Scott McCall in the student store while we were buying supplies for girls night… that just doesn’t count?”

Lydia couldn’t help but laugh in spite of the girl’s obvious embarrassment. “Kira, I didn’t know you had a crush!! Do tell.”

“He’s pretty cute,” admitted Malia. “He’s tan and in great shape. Though he did look a little exhausted. I guess he was there with his roommate? Hyperactive guy with a funny name who kept flailing his arms and complaining that they’d stopped in the middle of their Star Wars marathon.”

Realization dawned as Lydia asked, “Wait a minute… what’s his roommates’ name? Is it Stiles?”

Kira widened her eyes in surprise. “How on earth did you guess that?”

Lydia laughed and said, “We're taking Psych together. He… tends to leave an impression.”

Allison shot her a knowing smirk.

“Not always a good one, apparently,” replied Malia. “After he finished his Star Wars rant, he started moaning about this girl who shot him down this week.”

“Just how long did you guys spend stalking them in the student store?” asked Allison.

“Okay enough!” Lydia clapped her hands together. “Let’s get this ice cream and rosé put away and eat this pizza before it gets cold. Who wants to pick the first movie?”

“Can we watch _13 Going On 30_?” Kira asked excitedly. “It’s Mark Ruffalo’s cutest role.”

“I second that!” called Allison as she pulled out paper plates for the pizza.

Malia wrinkled her nose. “Are you guys talking about that actor who plays the Hulk?”

The remaining three girls groaned as they settled on the couch and hit play.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m grabbing a refill! Anybody else want something while I’m up?” asked Lydia, stretching her legs.

“Lacroix please!” Kira answered.

Lydia walked over to the fridge, chuckling as she watched Heath Ledger’s character be dragged away by campus security. _10 Things I Hate About You_ was one of her favorite films and she never grew tired of it.

As Lydia handed Kira her drink, she whispered, “Sooooo are you gonna make a move on Scott?”

Blushing, Kira said, “I barely know him! I met him at a party a couple weeks ago, though I doubt he remembers. Which means his first impression of me is probably knocking over that rack of popcorn tonight in the student store.”

“Well maybe he found it totally endearing!” Lydia bit her lip as she tried to reassure her friend. “You’re a badass art history major with a black belt. What’s not to love? Besides, sometimes it’s those little quirks that just draw you to someone, ya know?”

Kira side-eyed her for a moment then grinned.

“Lydia Martin, who are you crushing on right now?” asked Kira.

“No one!” she replied in a hushed tone, looking over at Allison and Malia to make sure they were still preoccupied with the film. “Well. Okay, there is this one guy. We ended up sitting next to each other on the first day of class and we just kind of became fast friends. I never really thought of him as more than that, or at least I wasn’t willing to admit it. But _somebody_ overheard him talk about being hung up on some other girl and now I don’t know! I’m feeling a bit… jealous?”

“Ah, completely oblivious,” Kira nodded. “I’ve been there, trust me.”

Lydia bit her lip. “Did he… did he mention who this other girl was? Was he more upset about being rejected or did he seem to really like her?”

“I didn’t hear much honestly,” Kira apologetically replied. “They were already on their way out of the store. I guess he tried to ask her out, only for her to point out the barista who she already had a hot date with. Brutal.”

Lydia’s jaw dropped as the realization dawned.

“Oh my god,” Lydia said, no longer concerned with keeping her voice down.

Allison and Malia looked her way.

“Lydia, you’ve seen this movie like 5 times. I know you’re not still surprised that Kat flashes her soccer coach to get Patrick out of detention,” Allison said as she grabbed a handful of popcorn.

Shaking her head, Lydia replied, “No, I… I just realized that I think Stiles was trying to ask me out a couple of days ago.”

“You mean when I saw him running away from you on Thursday? What did you do that poor kid?”

“I didn’t mean to!! He was asking if I was free tonight and you were walking up behind him so I made a joke about how I had a hot date with you tonight… Oh god I messed this up,” Lydia screamed into her hands.

“I mean it sounds like _he_ made some pretty bold assumptions here so I don’t think you need to take all the blame,” Malia chimed in.

“How do I fix this?” Lydia groaned.

“You could start by just texting him,” Allison offered gently.

“But maybe don’t try to explain the whole thing via text,” said Kira. “It barely makes sense hearing you explain it now.”

“Hold on, I thought there was no talking to boys during girls night. Wasn’t that like the first rule you told me?” Malia asked.

Allison and Kira smirked in Lydia’s direction. Lydia flashed a guilty smile.

Allison replied, “I think we can make an exception.”

Lydia pulled out her phone, trying to think up a clever way to go about this.

 **Lydia (10:17 PM):** Still in desperate need of human contact?

 **Stiles (10:18 PM):** Pretty much. Scott’s about ready to kick me out of our dorm at this point. He’s not even listening to all my research on Kyber crystals.

 **Lydia (10:20 PM):** Want to meet me in the quad in 10?

 **Stiles (10:21 PM):** Date ended early I’m guessing?

 **Lydia (10:22 PM):** Something like that.

 **Stiles (10:25 PM):** Look Lydia, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.

 **Lydia (10:26 PM):** Please? It won’t take long.

 **Stiles (10:30 PM):** Alright. I’ll see you in 10.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Lydia waited under the lamppost in the corner of the quad. The air was brisk but she knew her shivering was caused by nerves, not the fall weather.

Stiles walked over, hands in his pockets. He looked more reserved than usual. She missed his vibrant energy.

“How very dramatic,” he said, nodding at the way she was leaning against the lamppost in the otherwise dark night.

“I try”, she said. Why was it so much harder to flirt when you were trying to do so? Was she coming across as nervous as she felt?

“So….” Stiles trailed off. “What are we doing out here?”

“I wanted to clear something up and it seemed weird to do it over the phone.”

“And you had to do it at 11 on a Saturday night?” asked Stiles, raising his left eyebrow in disbelief.

“Well, I only just figured it out and I didn’t want to wait until Tuesday.”

Stiles nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. It was setting her on edge. This was not going as she’d hoped.

“I didn’t have a date tonight,” she said, picking at her fingernail.

Stiles’ forehead wrinkled in confusion then hurt. He drew in a sharp breath and rocked back on his heels.

“Wow, okay. Um, somehow that’s worse. You know, if you wanted to blow me off, you didn’t have to make up a fake date. I can take a hint.”

“What? No! That’s not what I’m - ugh okay let me start over,” Lydia replied, frustration evident in her tone. “Tonight, I was busy throwing a girls night with my roommate Allison. I was trying to introduce you on Thursday but you ran off so quickly after class.”

“Wait… so you weren’t pointing out that guy from the Looney Bean?” Stiles asked slowly.

“Nope,” Lydia replied, popping the ‘p’.

“And the hot date you were talking about was…”

“Pizza and ice cream with Allison and our suitemates,” she finished.

“Huh. Well, I for one feel like an idiot. That explains a lot but it doesn’t explain why you wanted to meet out here just to tell me that.”

Lydia waited a beat and then replied, “Because I didn’t want you thinking I shot you down like that. Though, for the record, it wasn’t super clear that you were trying to ask me out on a date.”

“How _did_ you figure it out?” he asked.

“Kira and Malia are my suitemates.”

Stiles finally removed his hands from his pockets and punched the air in excitement. “Okay I _knew_ my eavesdropping senses were tingling! Scott was too busy flirting to pay any attention.”

“Scott likes Kira?” gasped Lydia. “Oh, she’s going to be so excited.”

“No, listen, that was told to you in confidence!” Stiles said, pointing his finger directly at her. “Scott will kill me.”

Lydia chuckled and pretended to zip her lips shut, throwing away the key. She could think of plenty of ways to nudge Kira toward Scott without explicitly giving anything away.

Stiles sighed. His mood had improved but there was still an air of defeat masking his presence. Lydia couldn’t understand what she’d done wrong.

“Well, now that I’ve sufficiently embarrassed myself for one evening, I think I’ll head home,” he said, a half-hearted grin appearing on his face. “Can we just forget all this ever happened come Tuesday?”

“No way,” Lydia replied.

Stiles’ shoulders slumped.

“Oh. Alright. Well, I promise not to make it awkward in class or anything. I bounce back quick, ya know? Can’t keep Stiles down, no sir. Hopefully you don’t think I’m a dumbass for too long.”

He waved, meeting her eyes briefly, then turned to leave.

“Stiles, will you go out with me tomorrow night?” she blurted out, heart racing.

He turned around in shock.

“What? I mean yeah, of course, absolutely. But what?!”

Lydia rolled her eyes as she closed the distance between them. “Why do you think I had to see you tonight, dummy? I think there’s something here.”

“But why didn’t you -”

“I didn’t know you were trying to ask me out. On Thursday,” she clarified. “And then Kira was sitting there telling me how you were wallowing because you asked some girl out and she turned you down -”

“Okay I think wallowing might be a strong term,” Stiles interrupted, raising his hand.

“- And I realized how much the idea of you asking someone else out upset me.” Lydia paused, a bit embarrassed by the sudden rush of emotion she was feeling. “Look, I don’t know what this is but I just… I feel connected to you. Is that totally weird to admit?”

Stiles grinned. Just like that, she could see the energy begin to radiate off him once again.

“Not at all. Lydia, I’ve had a crush on you since Freshman orientation,” he confessed. “You were sitting there in a blue floral dress and I just leaned over to Scott and said ‘I’m going to ask that girl out if it’s the last thing I do at this school.’ And then when I walked into Psych 101 on that first day and you were sitting at the table near the front… it was like fate. I’ve spent the past month trying to work up the courage to ask you out.”

Lydia blushed as she looked down at her boots. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Had she really been so blind?

“Are you serious?” she asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

Stiles laughed and spread his arms open wide. “I’ve already made a complete fool out of myself this week. You really think I’d make up something even more embarrassing than that?”

“I guess not,” Lydia replied, biting her lip. “For the record, I think it’s really sweet.”

“Phew. Saves me a few steps on the 4 year plan.”

“The what?”

“Nothing! Just uh, nevermind,” Stiles said hastily, his eyes flashing wide.

“Okay, well I’ll let whatever that is go for now. I should head back to girls night. I kind of ran out on them,” said Lydia, feeling a bit guilty. “They’re waiting on my return to start _The Princess Bride_.”

“Yeah, I should go get some beauty sleep. Not to brag but I’ve got a pretty hot date tomorrow night.” He pretended to puff out his chest with pride.

Lydia just smiled and gave him a playful shove.

“Can I walk the lady back to her dorm?” asked Stiles, holding out his arm.

“You’re such a dork.”

“You kinda like it though.”

Ignoring the question, Lydia replied, “The _lady_ doesn’t need protection but she could sure use the company.”

“As you wish,” replied Stiles with a wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Anna: " lydia and stiles meet in college and are getting close, and oblivious interested in each other then when he attempts to ask her out, she joking says she has a hot date and points to allison, which stiles misinterprets as the guy behind and becomes slightly moppy and avoid her. She finds out during girls night and has to find him"
> 
> And there you have it! I hope I did this ending justice. I went back and forth on it a lot... I had a lot of fun with this story though! I snuck in some references to the original series (reworded to fit this AU of course). Did anybody catch them?
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to break this into two chapters due to pacing. The prompt request will be posted on the second chapter as it contains spoilers. Will these oblivious lovebirds figure things out? Stay tuned!
> 
> Hope you enjoy <3


End file.
